Cure for Madness - Cicero CTD

[ZayzoNEX]

Hey guys, Im new to the forums,never really posted, just read.
So my game was fine and perfect until today.
I started a new game few days ago and I was doing the DB questline today until I started getting CTD's.
They usually happen when I talk to Cicero in Dawnstar Sanctuary, I tried killing him, same result.
I also tried to kill him and move to a different area but didn't work.
I'll list my mod list and load order if thats any help.

 

Skyrim.esm

Update.esm

ApachiiHair.esm

APSkyrim.esm

Campfire.esm

RiverHelm.esm

BecomeKingOfRiverhelm.esp

Cloaks.esp

NorthKeep.esp

Racemenu.esp

Racemenuplugin.esp

SkyUI.esp

MyHomeIsYourHome.esp (newest added mod)

IceBladeOfTheMonarch.esp

TheHuntsman.esp

Aries&Tombstone.esp (newest added mod)

RayeksEnd.esp

AFT.esp

GoldenRingsOfCraft.esp

Kitiara.esp

Revis1(ChampionOfCyrodiil).esp

Northgirl.esp

DragonCarvedArmorSet.esp

BlackSacramentArmor.esp

BlackSacramentDBReplacer.esp

VioLens.esp

[TURNED OFF] GiftsOfAkatosh.esp

[TURNED OFF] impgen.esp

[TURNED OFF] killablechildren.esp

[TURNED OFF] dB- EnhancedBloodMain.esp

[ZayzoNEX]

Also, I installed No Boring Sleep-Wait Menu because someone said I should wait 31 ingame days.

I'll also try to spawn a new Cicero and kill him to see if that will help.

[ZayzoNEX]

Waited 31 days, no result.
Spawned a new Cicero but got the dialog if I had spared him and could make him follower.
I also tried to kill him with console but as soon as he says "Coming" Im back on my desktop.

[ZayzoNEX]

I think I have solved it somehow.
I have updated North Keep to latest version and got rid of Ice Blade of the Monarch mod, killed Cicero, didn't crash, decided to put more arrows in his body and completed the mission.

[Cataphrakt]

Hey,

 

I know it's a one year old post, but I encountered a rather same issue and I've been working on a way to bypass those annoying CTDs.

 

I am using the mods list and patches of Skryim Total Enhancement Project 2.2.9.2 as of August 5^th 2016. I had the exact same problem with a non-modded version of the game.

 

 

As a reminder, here is the protocol to reproduce the CTDs:

• get the quest "The Cure For Madness", and get to the stage where you are in front of the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary of Dawnstar and you have just spoken with Arnbjorn.
• enter the sanctuary, get to Cicero, kill him or spare him, it doesn't matter.
• leave the sanctuary through the entrance door.
• the game will load the exterior of Skyrim, then crash.

 

As any save attempted while inside the sanctuary will instantly crash the game, that leaving the sanctuary afterwards makes the game crash only after loading the exterior and that I get a .tmp incomplete autosave in my savegame directory, it it safe to assume that only the save process causes the crashes.

 

 

So here is a workaround that worked for me. If anyone has the same issues, please tell me what worked for you and what didn't:

 

1. Go in front of the entrance of the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary north of Dawnstar

2. Speak with Arnbjorn

3. DO NOT ENTER THE SANCTUARY, most crashes can be eluded by not entering certain cells after certain quest stages

4. Go back to the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary near Falkreath, the game should not crash at this stage of the quest

5. In the console, enter the following command:

setstage DB07 60
(set the quest's progress to a further stage, where you would have exited the sanctuary after completing the mission)

6. The quest message "Report back to Astrid" will be displayed soon after. The game will consider that you entered the sanctuary, spared Cicero's life, so you will have to lie to Astrid about killing him.

7. Talk to Astrid and get started for the next quest: "Recipe for Disaster".

8. DO NOT EXIT THE SANCTUARY, as passing the door will make the game crash.

9. Hence, do whatever you want to prepare for this quest (talk to your brothers and sisters for advice, get equiped, etc), but do not leave.

10. This new quest will take you to Markarth, you will have to teleport there to bypass the sanctuary door crash, using the following command:

coc MarkarthOrigin
(teleport to the Center Of Cell of MarkarthOrigin)

11. Here you are, there should not be any crash afterwards, for this quest stage at least.

POSSIBLE ALTERNATIVE TO BE ABLE TO KILL CICERO, NOT TESTED THOUGH

Between steps 4. and 5., being in the Falkreath Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary, enter the command:

setstage DB07 40

or

setstage DB07 50

(cf. http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:The_Cure_for_Madness#Quest_Stages)

 

This might enable you to validate Cicero's death prior to reporting to Astrid, yet it might also make the game crash or just not do anything at all...

Edited September 8, 2016 by Cataphrakt